Homeowners recognized for restoring historic homes

Published: Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 4:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, June 12, 2013 at 7:31 p.m.

“We’re not this yellow patchwork house anymore,” said Todd McDougal, sitting inside the renovated parlor of the “dream home” he purchased with his wife, Renita, in July 1999.

When the couple bought the 1903 Curtis-Burckmeyer house at 731 Fourth Ave. W., it needed work... a lot of work. The front of the house was painted gray. Shades of yellow primer and samples of other colors adorned the house’s other exterior walls, which now are all blue.

Three blocks away at 311 Buncombe St., a house owned by Anne Hansley that was once pink with purple trim has taken on a more subtle green hue these days. Splashes of yellow, purple and deep burgundy pop out of the new garden in the house’s front lawn.

During a Hendersonville City Council meeting last week, council members recognized and honored both homeowners for their efforts in restoring two of some of the city’s most historic properties. The homeowners also received an award from the Historic Preservation Commission for their efforts in the city’s West Side Historic District. They each received a plaque and $100 cash.

"We had always wanted an old house. And it just almost hurts when people take an old house and put a modern kitchen in it or something," said Renita McDougal. "It's just not our thing. It's just not what we would do."

Todd McDougal saw the house for the first time when he was attending Blue Ridge Community College several years ago. He fell in love with it. His wife did, too, and for years they would drive by the home admiring it from the street.

When they saw a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn in 1999, they booked a showing, then bought the home and started a series of restoration projects that would take more than a decade to finish.

They started with the home's exterior and kitchen. Inside, the foyer was flanked by two parlors. One became a library. Two years later they dug into landscaping improvements, calming a six-feet-to-the-curb drop-off with a slighter slope. They redid the home's semicircle driveway.

In 2010, the McDougals tackled the inside of the house, renovating two bathrooms and adding a third to the master suite. They had the floors refinished and the ceilings stripped of "funky texture" and "acoustical tiles."

They planned to use subway tiles in the walls of the downstairs bathroom, and after contractors dug through six or seven layers of wallpaper and hardboard, they found that a previous homeowner attempted the same motif.

"We discovered that one wall had been plastered, but they had tooled the plaster to look like subway tile," Renita McDougal said.

It was one of several discoveries they would make. The interior of the bathroom walls were insulated with newspapers from the 1920s, dating back to the house's possible first inclusion of indoor plumbing. When adding a screened porch off the dining room, the contractor discovered supports for an L-shaped porch that once wrapped around the home before it was taken off for an expansion in the 1920s.

"That was kind of cool for us to know that we were putting a porch back where a porch had been," Renita McDougal said. "It was a lot of fun to come home every day and see what had been uncovered and discovered while they were doing the restoration work."

Interior restorations were completed in almost seven months. "Most of it we have returned to what would have been done in 1903," she said.

"With one really big exception," her husband added. The beautiful yellow pine that once graced the walls of the old home have long been covered by several layers of paint. Restoring it to its original stained glory was not an option, but they are happy with the work that was done.

"We love the house more now because we don't look and see projects everywhere," she said. "Sometimes we'll actually have people who leave notes on our door — it's happened more than once — just thanking us for the work we've done… We take a lot of pride in keeping it nice and period."

311 Buncombe St.

Anne Hansley bought her home in January 2000. "It was pink then with purple trim, and I liked its Key West colors," she said.

"I was renting an upstairs apartment a block away with my two little girls, Caroline and Diana. Caroline was 6 at the time and kept bugging me to go meet Nancy, who lived in ‘the Pink House' and hosted ‘Ice Cream Thursdays' for all the kids in the neighborhood. Finally we met and she mentioned her preparations to move."

Hansley bought "the pink house." She thought it was beautiful and said it was "mostly restored" when she purchased it, but the old house cried for something more.

"(I) think it was 2005 when we had water intrusion under the front wall into an earth berm in the basement," she said. "Since we had to jack up the house, take out the front wall and dig out five feet just to pour the replacement concrete wall, I decided to dig out another five feet, expanding the downstairs under the porch."

Hansley added energy-saving radiant floors and the makeover, she said, took more than a year to finish.

The "transformation was magical and welcomed by the neighborhood. People still stop all the time, sharing admirations for the garden and the house... all who visit seem to love it there," she said. "I loved my life there for many reasons."

Hansley now lives on a farm and is renting out the Buncombe Street house.

<p>“We're not this yellow patchwork house anymore,” said Todd McDougal, sitting inside the renovated parlor of the “dream home” he purchased with his wife, Renita, in July 1999.</p><p>When the couple bought the 1903 Curtis-Burckmeyer house at 731 Fourth Ave. W., it needed work... a lot of work. The front of the house was painted gray. Shades of yellow primer and samples of other colors adorned the house's other exterior walls, which now are all blue. </p><p>Three blocks away at 311 Buncombe St., a house owned by Anne Hansley that was once pink with purple trim has taken on a more subtle green hue these days. Splashes of yellow, purple and deep burgundy pop out of the new garden in the house's front lawn. </p><p>During a Hendersonville City Council meeting last week, council members recognized and honored both homeowners for their efforts in restoring two of some of the city's most historic properties. The homeowners also received an award from the Historic Preservation Commission for their efforts in the city's West Side Historic District. They each received a plaque and $100 cash.</p><p><b.731 Fourth Ave. W.</b> </p><p>"We had always wanted an old house. And it just almost hurts when people take an old house and put a modern kitchen in it or something," said Renita McDougal. "It's just not our thing. It's just not what we would do."</p><p>Todd McDougal saw the house for the first time when he was attending Blue Ridge Community College several years ago. He fell in love with it. His wife did, too, and for years they would drive by the home admiring it from the street. </p><p>When they saw a "For Sale" sign on the front lawn in 1999, they booked a showing, then bought the home and started a series of restoration projects that would take more than a decade to finish.</p><p>They started with the home's exterior and kitchen. Inside, the foyer was flanked by two parlors. One became a library. Two years later they dug into landscaping improvements, calming a six-feet-to-the-curb drop-off with a slighter slope. They redid the home's semicircle driveway.</p><p>In 2010, the McDougals tackled the inside of the house, renovating two bathrooms and adding a third to the master suite. They had the floors refinished and the ceilings stripped of "funky texture" and "acoustical tiles." </p><p>They planned to use subway tiles in the walls of the downstairs bathroom, and after contractors dug through six or seven layers of wallpaper and hardboard, they found that a previous homeowner attempted the same motif.</p><p>"We discovered that one wall had been plastered, but they had tooled the plaster to look like subway tile," Renita McDougal said. </p><p>It was one of several discoveries they would make. The interior of the bathroom walls were insulated with newspapers from the 1920s, dating back to the house's possible first inclusion of indoor plumbing. When adding a screened porch off the dining room, the contractor discovered supports for an L-shaped porch that once wrapped around the home before it was taken off for an expansion in the 1920s. </p><p>"That was kind of cool for us to know that we were putting a porch back where a porch had been," Renita McDougal said. "It was a lot of fun to come home every day and see what had been uncovered and discovered while they were doing the restoration work."</p><p>Interior restorations were completed in almost seven months. "Most of it we have returned to what would have been done in 1903," she said.</p><p>"With one really big exception," her husband added. The beautiful yellow pine that once graced the walls of the old home have long been covered by several layers of paint. Restoring it to its original stained glory was not an option, but they are happy with the work that was done.</p><p>"We love the house more now because we don't look and see projects everywhere," she said. "Sometimes we'll actually have people who leave notes on our door — it's happened more than once — just thanking us for the work we've done… We take a lot of pride in keeping it nice and period."</p><p><b>311 Buncombe St.</b></p><p>Anne Hansley bought her home in January 2000. "It was pink then with purple trim, and I liked its Key West colors," she said.</p><p>"I was renting an upstairs apartment a block away with my two little girls, Caroline and Diana. Caroline was 6 at the time and kept bugging me to go meet Nancy, who lived in 'the Pink House' and hosted 'Ice Cream Thursdays' for all the kids in the neighborhood. Finally we met and she mentioned her preparations to move."</p><p>Hansley bought "the pink house." She thought it was beautiful and said it was "mostly restored" when she purchased it, but the old house cried for something more.</p><p>"(I) think it was 2005 when we had water intrusion under the front wall into an earth berm in the basement," she said. "Since we had to jack up the house, take out the front wall and dig out five feet just to pour the replacement concrete wall, I decided to dig out another five feet, expanding the downstairs under the porch."</p><p>Hansley added energy-saving radiant floors and the makeover, she said, took more than a year to finish.</p><p>The "transformation was magical and welcomed by the neighborhood. People still stop all the time, sharing admirations for the garden and the house... all who visit seem to love it there," she said. "I loved my life there for many reasons." </p><p>Hansley now lives on a farm and is renting out the Buncombe Street house.</p><p>Reach Weaver at emily.weaver@blueridgenow.com or 828-694-7867.</p>